


Hello, My Name Is...

by lilithtorch2



Series: Gossiping and Bickering [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Cake music, F/M, Friendship since teen years, Katy Perry - Hot N Cold, Lady Gaga - Paper Gangsta, Short Skirt/Long Jacket, basically a HS AU set in the Red Room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-05 19:51:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilithtorch2/pseuds/lilithtorch2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier and Natalia Romanova meet each other for the first time as fellow classmates. He has no idea he's smitten; she's more concerned with training and thinks he's a jerk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Want a Girl with Crimson Hair and Emerald Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Gotta love the vibraslap (that's exactly what the instrument is called) in Cake "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"

The Winter Soldier sat along the edge of the ring at the center of the gymnasium, quenching his thirst with some water. He yawned; this was the worst part of the day for him, because there wasn’t anyone who could match his skill level. The boys in his class were his friends but they were honestly not the best of fighters and they knew it too.

“Winter Soldier, you have a new opponent today.”

 “I’m sure he’ll end up like the rest.”

But he soon realized that the "he" was actually a "she."

The girl stood in the center of the ring, challenging the Winter Soldier’s authority with her quiet presence. The Winter Soldier pretended to ignore her, but in reality, he was carefully noticing every detail about her, from her red tresses that flowed down to her shoulders like lava to her emerald eyes that gleamed unenthusiastically at him. He had never had a girl treat him so indifferently before; most girls treated him with adoration.

“She just started with the program last week but she’s got a lot of talent,” the instructor explained, “so be nice.”

The girl’s long hair whipped behind her as she turned angrily to the instructor and said, “The Winter Soldier doesn’t have to be nice to me. I can handle myself just fine.”

To prove it, she caught the Winter Soldier off guard by punching him in the face first. She tried to punch him again, but the Winter Soldier only blocked it and countered with a punch of his own. Unfortunately for him, she grabbed his fist and flipped him over. He felt her legs wrap around his neck (which to him was actually pretty hot) and found himself with his back on the floor. He broke free from her legs and immediately returned to defensive position, increasing the distance between him and the redhead. She charged at him but he sidestepped her and tried to grab her from behind. She only headbutted him and stomped him on the foot, breaking free from him. The girl somersaulted backward so that she was standing right behind him and slammed him forward to the floor, but he used his hand to break the fall and, learning from her, wrapped his legs around the girl and flipped her forward to the other side of the ring. She immediately got up and charged at him again, and this time it was a flurry of fists. They managed to get punches in and seeing an opportunity, the Winter Soldier winked at the girl before he tripped her. He thought he heard the girl curse before she stood up again and continued to fight him.

The Winter Soldier realized that this was the first time he’d fought anyone for this long. She could keep up with his moves and what’s more, she had a lot of moxie.

Unfortunately, the girl suddenly stopped, effectively ending their match, and she mumbled to the instructor, “He’ll do.” Without a word, she walked off the ring. The Winter Soldier didn’t want her to go like this and immediately got up to follow after her.

“Wait! We're not done!"

The mysterious girl turned around to face him and coolly waited for him to speak.  For the first time, the Winter Soldier felt extremely nervous around her, but he acted as if he was just as indifferent as she was and asked if he would see her again. She responded professionally that they would meet again the next day; she had a lot to learn from him and she looked forward to their future matches together. The Winter Soldier’s inflated ego assumed (hoped) that the girl was at least slightly interested in him, but she only turned around again to meet her group of friends. Desperate for one more sliver of her attention, the Winter Soldier called out to her:

“Tell me your name!”

When the girl vanished from sight, the Winter Soldier kept her name, Natalia Romanova, pressed close to his heart and savored the way it tasted in his tongue.

One of his friends ran to him and said, “I heard you fought Natalia Romanova today.”

The Winter Soldier did not respond at first, still thinking about the girl.

The friend recognized that look from the Winter Soldier; it was the look of a boy prepared for an impossible romance. “You’re not her type.” He warned him. “In fact, I don’t think she’s interested in any of the guys here.”

The Winter Soldier only laughed in reply.

He did like a challenge.


	2. Sorry. Not Interested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read with either Lady Gaga "Paper Gangsta" or Katy Perry "Hot N Cold"

The fight in the training room wasn’t the first time that Natalia Romanova had met the Winter Soldier.

The first time she met the Winter Soldier, she was drowning in a sea of young and pretty girls who worshipped the ground at his feet like members of a cult and squealed when his azure eyes turned toward them. She couldn’t understand why they were fawning over him.

“Isn’t he a dream?”

“No,” Natalia said matter-of-factly. She knew the type of guy this boy was: an arrogant, good-for-nothing jerk. He was always smiling, always confident and always acted cool, as if the world around him didn’t matter. Worse, even the boys in their class respected and admired him too. He was a beaming ray of blinding light that she couldn’t get away from, and he _really_ enjoyed being the center of attention.

The girl who described the boy as “a dream” introduced herself to Natalia as “Ana” and promptly told her that they would be rooming together and she would show Natalia around and help her get used to the new environment.

“Do all the girls drool over him like that?”

“Like what?” Ana was too busy thinking about how attractive the Winter Soldier was.

Natalia rolled her eyes. “Who is he?”

“Oh,” Ana whispered excitedly, “you don’t know?”

Natalia did not want to remind Ana that she was new to the program and simply looked at her.

“He’s the Winter Soldier!”

Great. As if he wasn’t popular enough, the boy even had a mysterious nickname that only served to maximize the girls' fascination with him. Apparently he was some kind of legend here. She rolled her eyes as Ana started talking about the Winter Soldier and how good he was. Natalia wasn’t sure what Ana meant by that (good in bed? Kissing? School?), and she was not sure if she wanted to know.

Unfortunately, she was forced to admit that there was one thing the Winter Soldier was good at: fighting. This was the reason that her instructor wanted her to fight him first.

“Be nice.” Requested of the Winter Soldier.

Uggh, as if she needed patronizing from anyone! Natalia promptly informed her instructor that she could handle herself just fine and made her opening attack by punching the Winter Soldier’s pretty face. She was going to pummel that stupid face into oblivion but the Winter Soldier had quick reflexes and countered her punches. She thought she had a good signature move, too, when she’d jumped up and used her legs to flip him to the floor, but he used that against her later. He picked things up _fast._ He was light on his feet and hard with his punches. Then he had the nerve to wink at her _right before tripping her._

She reluctantly admitted to herself that the Winter Soldier was talented at fighting, and that was all she really needed to know from their first dance. For her purposes, the Winter Soldier would do just fine.

But there was a problem. The Winter Soldier's natural talent mixed with his nauseating 'charisma' defined him as the worst kind of guy: the jerk with an overinflated ego _and_ the remarkable aptitude to match it. How was she going to deal with that? She knew that the Winter Soldier would be a nuisance, because his ego would need feeding.

Sure enough, when Natalia walked off the ring to join her overeager girl friends waiting for her outside, the Winter Soldier _still_ chased after her. She just wanted to be left alone, but she waited for him to speak. After all, his only redeeming quality was the timbre of his voice.

“Tell me your name!”

She told the Winter Soldier, of course, but only admitted that she had a lot to learn from him and that she looked forward to their future matches together. She walked away and pushed all thoughts of him away from her mind because she was uninterested in boys like the Winter Soldier who tended to crush hearts and break girls’ dreams.

What Natalia wouldn't realize, until much, much later, was that it was her very disinterest in the Winter Soldier that drew him to her, and it was the Winter Soldier's ability to fight her with actions and with words that attracted her to him.


End file.
